Re: [PATCH] Create XEN_DOMCTL_set_opt_feature

["Daniel P. Berrange" <berrange@redhat.com>]

On Wed, Nov 28, 2007 at 05:39:31PM +0000, Keir Fraser wrote:
> On 28/11/07 17:31, "Alex Williamson" <alex.williamson@hp.com> wrote:
> 
> >    This patch goes along with the guest_os_type domain config patch.
> > Once we know what the guest OS is in the builder code, we need a
> > mechanism to set optimization features for that guest.  This is done via
> > a new XEN_DOMCTL as shown in the patch below.  This only has ia64
> > specific contents at the moment, but could be expanded for x86.  I
> > expect the contents of the structure will mostly be architecture
> > specific.  Thanks,
> 
> If you use this in the builder, why do you need a hvm param at all? In any
> case I don't like the encoding of OS strings into hvm_param integers. Either
> the concept of 'OS type' should not be visible to Xen, or a proper
> enumeration should be defined, or if you want a string then the builder
> should stick it in memory for your virtual boot firmware to pick up.

I agree. The concept of 'OS type' has no business being present in the
hypervisor/low level APIs at all.  That is an end-user facing concept,
which high level management tools translate to a specific set of low
level features/capabilities. The hypervisor / low level APIs should 
have explicit features/capabilities.  

eg, virt-manager has a concept of OS type - if you choose 'Windows' it
will pass appropriate config to XenD to add a USB tablet, set QEMU to 
'localtime', and a handful of other things. 

Dan.
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